Israeli Jews from Sderot and Palestinian Gazans Speak Out Together

This is a message from a group of Israeli Jews from Sderot, the front lines in receipt of the rocket attacks from Gaza who have been meeting with Gazans:

For two months, our teams from Gaza and Sderot have been documenting life as it is in their two cities: hope, anger, daily hardships, dreams. In Gaza, our characters have shown us what it means to live under siege. In Sderot, we have heard our characters tell us how their lives are haunted by kassams. All of them have told us about their desire to live inspite of everything, however different their situations might be.

It so happens that nearly at the very moment we had planned to complete our web documentary series, the truce is over. Now has come the time of weapons. Watching the videos that were produced over these two months, we are trying to imagine what our characters have to go though, what they are now thinking, what they are hoping.

At this moment, we are all worried about our friends from the Palestinian crew, about their characters, about their loved ones : « Nobody is safe here », this is what our friends in Gaza told us on Sunday December 28th during the night. On the other hand, are the kassams going to go on falling in Sderot, as though life were a Russian roulette? At this point, not a single person can be serene in this whole region.

One thing we are sure of is that beyond military and political statements, shows of force, pictures of bloodshed and war, our role is to let men, women, children be heard and seen so that we can understand how they are resisting this situation and struggling for survival. Now more than ever. How can we fulfill our mission in such circumstances? We are currently seeking means to go further. Please do not hesitate to write us, communicate with our characters and our crews. Despite the big noise of weapons, our voices can be listened to.

This is a beautiful passage, especially the last line. Where did you get it? Is this an organization or just a group of friends?

Jason

To see the videos and learn more about the project you can go here. It really does a great job of showing everyday people in Gaza and Sderot. http://gaza-sderot.arte.tv/en/

http://www,cesj.org Norm Kurland

The time may be ripe for a new approach to nation-building starting in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along the lines described in http://www.cesj.org/homestead/strategies/regional-global/abrahamfederation-nk.html. Let the Palestinians lead the way to keep religious authorities away from using the coercive powers of the new “Abraham Federation” and use the state to build economic and political sovereignty into each human person and protect their god-given inalienable human rights to life, liberty and property. Do it right and neighboring countries, eventually even Israel, will want to join the federation as a more just alternative to the so-called “two-state solution.” Let’s create a open, inclusionary and prosperous new form of nation-state led by Palestinians, instead of creating a festering and continuing hostility between a so-called “Jewish State” and an “Islamic State.” God did not invent the nation-state and does not need either form of religiously-controlled nation-state. Hamas can lead the way going beyond the plutocratic political economy of Israel by adopting the Abraham Federation idea and selling the US, the UN, and all other countries in the world that want to contribute their advanced physical and institutional technologies to creating an oasis of peace through justice in a part of the Holy Land, as the more advanced beacon for democratic change in the region.
The only condition for international support would be for Palestinian leaders to agree to police against further hostile action from extremists and terrorists against Israel and its citizens.

Please forward these thoughts to Palestinians and Israelis who want a just win-win solution to their conflicts.

Israel’s reaction (this time in Gaza) consistently seems to be one of destroy as much as possible… Even if an argument can be made about self defense (which seemingly fails in this case and under these circumstance, esp. considering the rule of proportionality and when the option is to understand the desperation of Gazans and Gaza and the extent to which Israel is complicit in the creation of the circumstances that has brought us to this very point) they always go in to destroy… To insure nothing built is left to be built or to rebuild…

By destroying the foundations of civil life the Israelis, for 41 years, for more, have laid the foundations of an untenable existence for human’s…They create chaos, not as an unfortunate consequence but as a goal… This Israeli masculinity is scary… and why do I say that? Reading Carol Gilligan one is captured by the way she relates to responses vis-a-vis morality scales… Pointing out the different patterns in males v. females (in research done by men)… suffice it to say that she points out that in the moral development research that she examined and critiqued the male achieved the highest level essentially by advocating the achievement of a seemingly moral and just solution by what Gilligan describes as an approach which can be seen as or leading to violence (I agree with this assessment). The girl did not reach the highest level of the moral development scales (given the same scenario as the boy) essentially because she advocated dialogue, examination of needs in the conflict, essentially non violent conflict management…

I do not necessarily believe that there must be a difference between men and women, boys and girl, i.e. that gender attitudes and moral/justice/rights perspectives are determined by one’s biological sex… so what worries me is the Israeli approach which seems to based on the disturbing seemingly male approach to “justice” discussed by Gilligan…and more disturbing I have heard this attitude/approach being offered by both men and women…

Bio: I am a human rights worker and doctoral student in gender studies, living in West Jerusalem